Steel Balloon Scuffle
Jazz - Transformers 2k5 - Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 4:55 PM The Steel Balloon Within the Steel Balloon, there is a dance floor immediately past the front door. Behind the floor is the main bar, which curves around like an elongated half-octagon. Several bartenders busily serve the customers that flow into this place at any given time. Contents: Cyclonus Scattershot Nightbeat Windshear Harrow Artifice Swoop Windshear finishes his drink in one big gulp, puts the glass down and stands. He just got here but oh well. "Yes, sir." He looks at Arty and waits for him so they can walk out together. Harrow reluctantly stands and heads for the exit as per Cyclonus' orders, gesturing for the other Seekers to follow. She's sure to take her martini with her. Nightbeat is forced back by Cyclonus's table shove, and he grins wildly, gesturing with his martini. "Now you see the violence inherent in the system! And you turbosheep are just gonna fall in line, ain't cha? You all look alike - so much for hoping you thought any differently." Nightbeat is going Decepticon-baiting! "Yeah, stupid pointy-head loser!" Swoop shouts, shaking his fist at Cyclonus. He's a very impressionable robot, you see. Windshear clenches a fist and looks at Nightbeat as he walks by, "Learn to see, Autobot, we look nothing alike and are nothing alike..." He takes offense at being put in such a general statement like what the groundpounder just did but he obeys and keeps heading out of the bar. Swoop points at Windshear, "Atleast Nightbeat not have stupid confused shark on chest!" Oh yeah, he went there. This is definitely the wrong day to bait Artifice. Pumped full of liquid courage, he puts his finger in Nightbeat's face. "I'll show you a sheep, Gobot. Cylonus is a great guy! And you don't disser speck 'im like tha!" He wavers. Harrow takes offense too, and sticks her tongue out at Nightbeat as she passes. "You ain't so dreamy! ... Uh, Art, c'mon." She tries to lead him away. Windshear stops suddenly not knowing if Artys behind him or not and glares at Swoop, "This shark can still kick your aft dinododo." The bar's door swing open revealing the Jazz's silhouette in the opening...He stays there for a few seconds to make sure he is seen...Of course he is not blind and sees who is there. He grins and simply heads in with his usual confidence. Cyclonus doesn't answer at Scattershot's threat. He glances towards Nightbeat pondering the situation. This may seem pointless but those autobots need to learn respect and the Decepticon in the bar may need a reminder of why they must obey him without discussing. He suddenly attack faster than a snake by swinging the back of his hand towards the technobot commander, "Out of my way." Combat: Cyclonus sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his BitchSlap (Punch) attack! Nightbeat knows that Seekers look nothing alike. Better than that, he knows that Seeker are usually /offended/ when people accuse them of looking alike. He can only smirk as Windshear, predictably, falls for the bait, and Artifice does, too. Examining the fingers of his free hand, Nightbeat asks Artifice, "A great guy, huh? A great guy who busts in a bar and hauls you home like you're some factory fresh who can't fly straight? Yeah. Sounds great to me." He adds cheerily to Harrow, "And you look /just like/ your buddies there, sugar. Maybe I'll buy them drinks next time!" Nightbeat winces a bit as Cyclonus slaps Scattershot. Oooh. That had to hurt! Swoop snorts at Windshear. "Yeah right! Me Swoop beat you up like me always do!" He sips the rest of his drink and immediately crushes the glass in his massive hand. "JUST LIKE THAT!" And he would've at that moment too if Cyclonus hadn't just slapped Scattershot like an angry pimp. "OH SNAP!" Scattershot without thinking takes his fist and smashes the table in half......he then grabs onto Cyclonus' head with his left hand and suddenly headbutts him in the face "Don't tell me what to do buckethead!" Combat: Scattershot sets its defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with its Punch attack! Artifice staggers out of the way as it looks like real fighting is going to break out. He puts his hands in the air and makes a very un-Decepticon like sound. "Oh Primus, it's starting!" He unspaces his lightning gun. "This place is gonna get torn apart!" Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his Lightning Cannon attack! Harrow stops trying to tug Artifice away, glaring fiercely at Nightbeat now. "THEY LOOK NOTHING LIKE ME!" she shrieks, whipping out her scalpel to perhaps slice Nightbeat's nose off. She lunges for him, blade raised high. Combat: Harrow misses Nightbeat with her Vibro-Scalpel attack! -2 Windshear steps toward Swoop, "Maybe this time its your turn to get yoru aft beat, Dinobot." He swings a fierce right hook for that dinobot chin. Combat: Windshear strikes Swoop with his Punch attack! Artifice pounds on the stock of his lightning gun. "Frickin' thing. Too drunk. Shouldn't be firing. Going to anyway. For the Empire!" He aims at no one in particular and squeezes the trigger. Combat: Artifice misses Nightbeat with his Lightning Cannon attack! -1 Cyclonus is headbutted which produce a loud metallic sound that everyone can hear around him. The impact make him take a step back as he locks his optics into Scattershot's, "You should have left Autobot." He reaches behind his back and draws his sword. With a switft move, he attempts to shove it into Scattershot's chest. Combat: Cyclonus sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Cyclonus misses Scattershot with his Diamond-Boron Carbide Sword attack! -1 Fortunately for Swoop, Windshear's punch isn't that big of a deal. Unfortunately for Windshear, it's still enough to bring Swoop's wrath upon him. The Dinobot grunts and gets as close to the Seeker as possible, his chest bumping up against the other's canopy. "You mess with wrong Autobot.." he growls before lifting a fist and bringing it down towards Windshear's head like a hammer. Combat: Swoop sets his defense level to Aggressive. Nightbeat darts out of the way, nimble and light on his feet. He pauses to sip at his martini thoughtfully, and he asks, "So sweetness, I gotta ask... whaddya see in martinis? Because I'm just not feeling it." Now, he can tell that Harrow there is doing her best to be a femme fatale, and it's interesting that she went for a close-combat weapon rather than one of those arm guns on her arms. Was that vibro scalpel, in fact? Hmm! He looks at his martini, thinking again, and then he sighs. "Here. You can have this, since you like them so much." And bang, he pulls back as Artifice tries to fry him. Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Protected. Jazz watches as things are escalating "Now now kids no need to wreck this place up. Take it outside if you really need to unwind." As he says that a lightning cannon discharge narrowly misses him and ends up damaging the Jukebox. Damaging a musical device for Jazz is almost like Sunstreaker getting a scratch. "Now that was not very nice." Jazz makes a grab for the lightning cannon hoping Artifice holds onto it real tight and pulls, pushes, twist and goes for some sort of judo throw using the cannon for leverage. With a bit of luck Artifice will fly onto a table. Combat: Jazz strikes Artifice with his Grab attack! Combat: Nightbeat strikes Harrow with his A Drink On Me Now On You (Punch) attack! Combat: Swoop misses Windshear with his HEAD SMASH (Punch) attack! Scattershot dodges the sword as he moves to the side. He then whips out his Acid rifle and says "No Decepticon, YOU should have left!! Scattershot takes the butt of the rifle and tries to his Cyclonus in the face with it. Combat: Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with its Smash attack! Windshear sees the fist coming down and ducks down and to the side in time to be missed. He carries his action through and bringing both fists together attemtps to do a double fist slam down on the back of Swoops neck. Combat: Windshear misses Swoop with his Punch attack! "Hey thass mine!" Artifice does indeed struggle to maintain a hold on his weapon. But he isn't very steady right now, and his head is really starting to hurt. He finally loses his footing and is thrown Judo-style into a table! Glasses shatter, wood splinters, chairs go clattering to the floor, and Artifice finds himself upside down facing Jazz. "Gaah," is all he can say before he attempts to blast Jazz with his arm cannon. Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his Arm Cannon (Laser) attack! If Harrow was angry before, she's trembling in barely controlled rage now. He did not. HE DID NOT JUST FLING A DRINK ON HER. The high grade trickles down her frame, and starts evaporating from the seething heat she's giving off. "YOU INSOLENT INGRATE! You will regret that!" she howls, rushing in to slash her blade across Nightbeat's middle. Combat: Harrow misses Nightbeat with her Slash (Smash) attack! Hound has entered The Steel Balloon. Cyclonus is hit in the face again. Energon spills from his mouth and his optics flash as they seem to burn of a read unholy fire. The unicronian doesn't reply to Scattershot...not with words. Instead he springs forwards using all his speed and launches his right foor towards the technobot's face. Combat: Cyclonus misses Scattershot with his Kick attack! Jazz watches as the seeker switches to his arm lasers. "Whoa quite the fast thinker you are." he says as he backflips out of the way. Looking up at the two holes Artifice probably made in the ceiling. "This is not going to end well if you keep this up. I am very cool and patient mech but there is a limit to it eventually. I am offering you a chance to just walk out. Safety your weapon, get up and walk out." He takes another step back instead of pressing his assault but by the looks of his stance he expects to get attacked again. Combat: Jazz takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Scattershot dodges the kick attack from Cyclonus and starts laughing "What's the matter Cyclonus, having trouble keeping your wits?! You haven't even drank anything yet! Guess you aren't as tough as you think!!!" Scattershot smiles, lifts his led and throws a big spinning roundhouse kick at the unicronian. Combat: Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with its Kick attack! Nightbeat twists, grinning like a fool, in almost a tango move, and he slips behind Harrow. The detective teases, "Ingrate? Oh baby, I'm plenty grateful. Grateful that you ain't got no coordination, for one thing, but I'm sure I could find other things to appreciate about you, if you just give me a minute." Nightbeat takes stock of the situation. Scattershot has got guts in spades, and he;ll need them all to take on that horned devil of a spaceship. Swoop's more than a match for most any Seeker. Jazz is trying to play peacemaker. Hmm. He lightly kicks at one of Harrow's ankles, inquiring, "Say, was that vibro scalpel? Hello nurse?" Combat: Nightbeat strikes Harrow with his Going for a trip? (Kick) attack! -1 Swoop is slow enough to miss Windshear but fast enough to avoid his fists. "Stupid plane! Me Swoop squash you like stupid, tiny bug!" The Dinobot reaches over and grabs a stool from a nearby high table and lifts it high over his head. "TEENY TINY BUG!" He swings the stool at Windshear. Combat: Swoop sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Swoop strikes Windshear with his STOOL'D (Punch) attack! Combat: Cyclonus sets his defense level to Fearless. Cyclonus attempts to dive under the kick but there is not enough room to maneuver in the crowded place. The impact knocks him on the ground but he's quick to get back on his feet, "You speak too much autobot. You're only a thug while I am a warrior." The decepticon takes a few steps back and pulls his pistol out of a subspace. He raises his arm, aiming his weapon at the technobot before pulling the trigger. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Oxidizing Laser attack! A scared bartender yells out "No blasters! No Blasters!" before ducking behind the bar. Harrow staggers, but manages to remain upright. This fella' was slippery! She takes a split-nano to calm herself, on the verge of losing it. "Yes, it is." She twirls the blade in front of him. "I'm a medic, but don't let that fool you, whelp!" Alright, she's not landing a bunch of hits, but neither are her wingmates. "QUIT SUCKING!" she screams at Artifice and Windshear, before moving to /try/ and land another slice through Nightbeat's shoulder joint. Combat: Harrow strikes Nightbeat with her Slice (Smash) attack! Artifice clambers to his feet and tries to aim his arm rifle again. "Stand still," he says to Jazz. "You hit me, but I haven't gotten to hit you yet!" His vision swims, knees buckling, and he can't find a good shot. "No fair. I'm drunk." Combat: Artifice analyzes Jazz for weaknesses. Windshear gets clobbered head on by the stool and stumbles back a few steps. Then with a snear he does a roundhouse kick at the Dinobot and lights up his afterburner right as he connects, or tries to. Combat: Windshear misses Swoop with his Kick attack! It had all the makings of a classic, transformer bar brawl. There was energon booze, there were robots, there were easy-to-crash chairs, and most of all, there were Autobots and Decepticons present. As usual, Hound had done his best incognito work in getting into the bar without actually revealing his position. Tucked away at a dimly-lit table in the rear of the fine establishment, Hound had kept his blue optics focused on the battle at hand. Although he wanted to help his friends, he figured the best way to do that would be to do it...well, in his own special way. Carefully, shifting his shoulder-mounted turret in the direction of Cyclonus, Hound immediately begins processing the enemy's tactical information. It takes but a matter of seconds for his analyzing program to slam out a full report on the Decepticon officer's strengths and weaknesess. Satisifed with the information, the scout silently transmits the information to Scattershot as he casually sips on a glass of energon on the rocks. Oh, how he missed his Pepsi on Earth. Combat: Hound analyzes Cyclonus for weaknesses Scattershot can exploit. Scattershot falls backwards almost falling over completely as a shard of armor goes flying off of his shoulder, suprised that Cyclonus actually pulled out a gun and shot at him, he drops his acid rifle and then grabs a laser pistol "Some warrior you are!" and fires a burst of energy at Cyclonus' direction. Combat: Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with his Laser attack! Nightbeat's shoulder is cut into, rather deeply, and his arm sort of hangs there. Playing down the damage, he sing-songs, "Everybody plays the fool." He seems rather amused as she tries to encourage the other Seekers. "Hmm. Standing around and whiffing on a roundhouse. Looks like you're a real effective cheerleader, miss. Don't quit that day job." As much of a funnyman as he's being right now, Nightbeat has some distinct memories of Decepticons medics being real terrors. Nightbeat throws a punch with his good arm, now at her knife hand, since she seems so fond of her blade. Jazz walks towards Artifice moving from left to right in a rhytmic manner. "Standing still would be no fun. Besides I got a good playlist going on." feint to the left, to the right and roundhouse kick Capoeira style. "I am not going to offer you this chance all night. If you keep this up I will have to adjust my game to the not so friendly level." Combat: Jazz strikes Artifice with his Kick attack! Combat: Nightbeat misses Harrow with his Long Arm of the Law (Punch) attack! Swoop snorts at Windshear's attempt to lay the smackdown. "It no use. Me Swoop gunna win like me Swoop ALWAYS do!" He gives himself a moment to laugh before throwing a big grey fist at Windshear. "Give up and run away like baby!" Combat: Swoop strikes Windshear with his Kapow! (Punch) attack! Windshear takes the punch dead on and his head snaps back. His optics flicker and his knee servos loose their strength for a second and he nearly falls. After a second he shakes his head to get the energon flowing again and snears, "I don't run, Autobot and Im no baby." he rasps and rears back launching another punch at the Dinobots face. Combat: Windshear strikes Swoop with his Punch attack! Cyclonus grins, "You don't understand the meaning of a true warrior. A true warrior does what ever it takes to reach victory." Of course being hit by a burst of acid pellet doesn't help to be a true warrior. The acid burns Cyclonus armor and melted metal starts to leak on the ground. Grunting in pain, the unicronian leap fowards and attempts to bring his sword down on the technobot's skull. Combat: Cyclonus misses Scattershot with his Diamond-Boron Carbide Sword attack! Artifice squints, trying to get his optics to work right. This process is interrupted by Jazz's foot, which connects with Arti's jaw and sees him spinning to the floor in dramtic fashion. He doesn't stay down long. He bounces to his feet with the rage burning in his optics, strengthened by the inedbriating fluid pounding through his system. "That's it, white Autobot guy! Punching time!" He lunges for Jazz with a fist cocked back. Combat: Artifice sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his Legend of Drunken Master! (Punch) attack! "ARTIFICE! FOCUS! /AIM/! Hey wait a nano, that ain't fair, he's drunk!" Harrow's attention returns to Nightbeat just in time to evade his punch. "Cheerleader? Hmph!" Scooping up a sizable chair, she aims to break it over Nightbeat's helm. Combat: Harrow misses Nightbeat with her CHAAAAIIIRRR (Kick) attack! As Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with his searing laser attack, Hound dawns a soft smile. His analyzing had worked to perfection, giving the Technobot Commander an edge, albeit a brief one. Shifting in his seat a bit, the scout swivels his sensor turret in the direction of Windshear. With that done, Hound's internal computer begins forming an outlined imaged of the seeker. A few sections of the Decepticon are lit to show areas of tactical interest. Once again, happy with his scouting work, Hound preps a quick report to transmit to Swoop. He had tried to give the Dinobot an edge in combat before without much success. For the sake of a rockin' bar brawl, the scout hoped this time around would be different. Combat: Hound analyzes Windshear for weaknesses Swoop can exploit. Nightbeat's helm has a little Nebulan inside of it who appreciates when Nightbeat doesn't let his head get too banged up. So Nightbeat ducks again, darting behind a table and tipping it up to deflect the thrown chair. He observes, ever-smarmy, "Honey, if you think life should be fair, you're in the wrong faction." Since he already has the table tipped, he just goes ahead and shoves it at Harrow. Combat: Nightbeat strikes Harrow with his Table That Idea (Kick) attack! -1 Swoop gets a fist right in the nose and he takes a step back, shocked at what just happened. "Did you...Did you shark-plane just punch me Swoop's nose?! That...THAT REALLY MEAN!" Before he makes his next move, Hound's report comes in and Swoop stops to quickly go over this new information. A smile comes over the Dinobot's lips and he stares down at the seeker. "Me Swoop think this gonna end real soon..." Then, like a wolf on a rabbit, Swoop attacks Windshear with a surprisingly amount of ferocity. Combat: Swoop strikes Windshear with his Dino-Beating attack! Jazz deflects Artifice's punch "Allright, time's up. Enough playing around." he says with a neutral voice. Not angry or annoyed. It's all in the tone. He smacks Artifice on the nose with a quick backfist then spins sideways twice and tries to plant a solid fist in Windshear's lower back then proceeds to roll on the ground towards Harrow and stands up with a Flip Kick at her and finishes with two spins right and a thrust kick in the middle of Cyclonus's back. Combat: Jazz strikes Harrow with his Takedown Area attack! -1 Combat: Jazz misses Cyclonus with his Takedown Area attack! -1 Combat: Jazz strikes Artifice with his Takedown Area attack! -1 Combat: Jazz misses Windshear with his Takedown Area attack! -1 Scattershot jumps out of the way of the sword attack as another loose piece of armor, which was damaged by the previous laser blast from Cyclonus decides it's going to fall off. Scattershot trips over this piece of armor as picks up his heavy acid rifle "Now who's talking too much? Your lack of respect for your opponent is your weakness" as he fires a blast at Cyclonus from his rifle. Combat: Scattershot misses Cyclonus with his Automatic Acid-Pellet Gun attack! -4 Windshear staggers back damaged from the latest attack by the Dinobot. He spits some energon on the floor and steadies himself as he looks back at Swoop. His optics flare red as he balls up both fists and puts his arms down and out. With a duel 'schinnkkt' sound a shortsword blade extends from the top of each wrist. "Now we play.." he rumbles and swings as hard as he can aiming for the Dinobots midsection. Somehow Cyclonus finally realizes that it could be a good idea to start to dodge. He steps to his left, avoiding Jazz's sneak attack and he throws a chair in front of the acid pellets fired by Scattershot. Taking cover behind a table, he returns fire with his own pistol. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Oxidizing Laser attack! -3 Harrow gets smacked with a table, and is sent stumbling to land on her aft. Where she pouts about the unfairness of it all. Then she stands and stomps the ground, throwing a miniature fit before getting smacked upside the helm by Jazz's sexy legs. She wails and covers her face. "OWW! YOU JERK!" She'd go after Jazz personally, but she'd been specifically warned about him, so she sticks to Nightbeat. Frustrated to no end, she charges up her scalpel with all sorts of nasty electrical currents and aims to drive it into Nightbeat's neck. Combat: Harrow strikes Nightbeat with her HATE YOU SO MUCH attack! Artifice is hit hard again, taking a nice solid backfist, but he barely flinches. He's flying high, and doesn't notice that his whole upper dental plate has been knocked crooked. "You hit Harrow," he says, "That was the wrong thing to do." Artifice is going to regret saying this tomorrow ... if anyone hears him. He pulls his sun ray and levels it at Jazz. He hopes he's going to manage to be as much of a badass as he thinks he is. Combat: Windshear misses Swoop with his Arm Blade attack! Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his Sun Ray attack! -2 Success!! It had worked again! Call him a tactical nerd, call him an Earth-loving hippie, or just call him crazy, but Hound found some sort of weird pleasure in helping his friends from the shadows of the darkness. "Alright...let's see if we can make this work a third dim," he softly emits as he swivels his turret once again, this time in the direction of Harrow. "Time to let Hound take a look at you Decepticon...." whispers the Autobot again as he fires up his sensors. They *WHIIIRRR* to live for a third time, examining the Seeker's lithe, but battle-ready tactical arsenal. A moment later, another report was on the way through subspace to Nightbeat. Combat: Hound analyzes Harrow for weaknesses Nightbeat can exploit. Scattershot gets shot backwards yet again, this time some of his systems are affected slightly as he begins losing some strength in his legs he falls over and loses his automatic acid pellet gun. Desperetely he grabs his laser pistol from it's holster. Scattershot takes cover behind a counter as he aims and fires at Cyclonus. Combat: Scattershot misses Cyclonus with his Laser attack! Jazz ducks by leaping forward and off to the side, the mech is tucked into a ball. Finishing his roll Jazz grabs a chair, stands and swings sideways at Artifice. "Ok...I hit her. What about it? You got a /thing/ for her? Isn't that like illegal for you guys to care about stuff or people. You pullin' chain aint'cha?" Combat: Jazz misses Artifice with his Chair Swing! (Punch) attack! Nightbeat is jammed in the neck by the dame, and he sputters, apparently having trouble getting his vocoder working. Oh, but that dame hits where it hurts! Nightbeat dives under a table to take stock of his injuries. He withdraws some bailing wire, which he loops around his damaged shoulder to make sure the arm stays on. Then, he touches his neck, feeling the damage carefully, and he shorts a few wires together. Hurts like the dickens, but his pride will be hurt if he has to stay mute much longer. That slow, sluggish feeling he has will have to wait until later to address. He mutters, "Thanks Hound, but I already know her weakness is martinis." Combat: Nightbeat sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Nightbeat quickly patches up some of his minor injuries. Cyclonus charges Scattershot as soon as he fired at him. The technobot has enough time to pull his pistol but the shot goes wide as Cyclonus dives under the energy beam. The unicronian leaps into the air and aims his foot at his opponent as he descends towards the ground. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Kick attack! Harrow doesn't quite appreciate Artifice's chivalry in battle. Nightbeat darts under a table for some damn reason. "My weakness is not martinies!" she spouts, and finally exchanges her blade for a pistol, whether the barkeeper liked it or not... but she doesn't fire it just yet, backing away to survey things. "If any of your sorry saps need a patch, say so now!" Combat: Harrow takes extra time to steady herself. Pass "What?" Artifice is unsure what Jazz is referring to. He can't even remember walking into the bar. "Stop talking. Who said you could talk to me? What are you even saying?" He aims his sun ray again. "Yer too pale to talk to me. You need a nice tan." Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his Sun Ray attack! -1 Windshear realizes hes got time for another swing before the Dinobot can recover from his avasive move from the last one and swinging his other fist he attemps a sword punch again to the midsection of the dinobot. Combat: Windshear strikes Swoop with his Arm Blade attack! Swoop puts his hands on his hips and throws his head back, laughing like the big bully he is. "Hahahaha! Silly plane!" He takes a short step back, his abdomen just barely avoiding Windshear's snikkty snikkty blades. "You so stupid! And useless! Me Swoop is a hundred times better! Hahahaa!" So busy with gloating and laughing is he that he doesn't even notice Windshear making a second attempt. When he's hit and slashed, Swoop gasps! "OKAY THAT IT! YOU DISRESPECTIN!" Woosh! That's the sound of a fist sailing through the air. Combat: Swoop misses Windshear with his Punch attack! Jazz avoids the Sun ray "Careful with that. If you can't shoot straight use your fists. Less property damage." The Autobot takes a few steps back to collect himself. "Now you need to stop complaining I was a gentlemech earlier and offered you a way out and you refused. Now you have to live with it." Combat: Jazz takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Scattershot gets knocked back again and without any words he stands up, energon dripping from his already damaged shouler and side of his head, he stares down Cyclonus with one of the most angry and evil stares one can give himself. He charges at Cyclonus in an attempt to put him into the wall. "Now you've done it! I'm gonna finish you once and for all pointy head! Combat: Scattershot misses Cyclonus with his Smackdown attack! Nightbeat moves out from under the table and comments, "I hate to disappoint you, but they'll let anyone into the medical field, these days," gesturing to his bailing-wired shoulder and his hastily-repaired shoulder. "Now. Where were we? Oh yeah. A lil' dance that goes like this." He moves to grab Harrow's hand, as if to lead her onto the dance floor - and then he /twists/ his hand, hoping to painfully torque her wrist. Combat: Nightbeat sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Nightbeat strikes Harrow with his Dance Floor Massacre (Punch) attack! Windshear ducks the fist, thank primus, and swings back again with his other hand, to the dinobots midsection yet again. Combat: Windshear strikes Swoop with his Arm Blade attack! Cyclonus simply slides out of Scattershot's way, probably hoping that the technobot commander crashes himself into the wall. Of course the decepticon warrior is more than happy to give him a helping hand. As the autobot passes in front of him, he attempts to grabs his neck and gives him a good push right into the wall. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Push into the wall (Punch) attack! Artifice angrily tosses his sun ray. It goes spinning off behind the bar. "Fists again, huh?" He puts up his dukes and tries to bounce around. "Let's do then. I mean go. Let's go, Autobot! Queensbury Rules!" He rotates his fist around one another, imagining that he looks totally awesome and intimidating. He probably just looks like a drunk Decepticon spinning his fists around and staggering. Combat: Artifice misses Jazz with his One of These Attacks Has Got to Hit You! (Punch) attack! "OKAY YOU AFTHATS, don't say I didn't offer!" Harrow shouts at her 'team' before getting roped into a dance with Nightbeat. A dance leaving her shrieking in pain. "AAIIIEEEEEE! LET ME GO!!" She thrashes to try and free herself, finally wretching out of Nightbeat's grasp with a broken wrist. No attacks from her this time, as she backs into a corner, battered and bruised and covered in high grade. Combat: Harrow takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Let's be honest, one hit from Windshear's blades are going to do a whole lot to someone with as much armor as Swoop. Multiple hits, however, are a completely different story. There's now a noticeable gash on Swoop's gut and it's beginning to seep small amounts of oil. Swoop growls and pulls his sword out from where ever it is Transformers keep their swords and holds it tightly in his right fist. "You want play with slicey things? Me Swoop show you how it REALLY done! Now stay still!" Swoop swings the burning blade at the seeker. Combat: Swoop strikes Windshear with his Thermal Sword attack! It was only a matter of time. Hound had already focused on the three other Decepticons, so there was just one left to analyze. The scout's trusty turret warms up for another quick scan -- this time the target being Artific. "Hmm...conniving, idealistic, obsessed with control...alright everything looks about right there." Content with his tactical analysis, Hound fires off a tight-beam transmission to Jazz...even if the Special Ops Commander didn't appear to need it to begin with. Standing down, Hound starts making his way for the door, dawning an over-sized Fedora he had been gifted back on Earth. Keeping his gaze down, the scout hopes that no one spots him as he tries to make a casual retreat from the bar. Scattershot heads face first into the wall as he smashes his head into a steel bar. He pulls his head out of the wall, gets his wits back together. He turns around and tries to throw a punch in retaliation. Combat: Scattershot strikes Cyclonus with his Punch attack! Jazz puts up his fists in a classic boxing stance mimicking Artifice's stance. "I am more of an MMA fan myself. Look it up on TV one of these days." Jazz advances then drops to the floor with a straight kick at Artifice's shins. Combat: Jazz strikes Artifice with his Kick attack! Nightbeat's lip curls in disgust as Harrow shrieks and cowers in the corner. She's probably faking it. Sobbing dames are always faking it. And like a sap, he falls for it every time. Nightbeat grumbles a bit to himself about being soft-headed - something Muzzle doesn't take to too kindly - and he rubs his aching shoulder. His attention roves around and - like a sap - he turns his back on Harrow, picking his way over the maze of toppled tables to Scattershot, who is getting real friendly with the wall, there. Nightbeat says, "Here, this'll set you right as rain," and he offers Scattershot a swig of something labeled XXX, in between punches. Combat: Nightbeat quickly patches up some of Scattershot's minor injuries. Scattershot's punch connect with Cyclonus' chest and...does next to nothing. Apparently the unicronian's weaponery did a good job at messing with the technobot's systems. Of course, Cyclonus doesn't move at all even though it requires some effort from him after the beating he took so far. Deciding it's time to finish this, he points his pistol at Scattershot's face well decidel to blow his head off...and then he pulls the trigger. Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Oxidizing Laser attack! Windshear takes a sudden blade attack across his side and stomach. Sparks fly out and there is a nice gash exposing internal workings on his side. He retracts the blade on the arm facing the injury and puts his hand there protectively. The Seeker steps back from the Dinobot and for once pays attention to what his HUD is saying. He remembers what he and Hook spoke about the day before. Theres no point in this. He steps back again and raises his arm cannon on his free arm so to speak. "Enough, Dinobot, this is neutral territory." Windshear rasps to remind the primitive that and himself a bit too. He powers up his laser but does not fire. Hes hoping the Dinobot will back off. Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Protected. Artifice's legs are kicked out from under him! He goes down hard and isn't sure whether or not he's going to be able to get back up this time. "Oh boy," he says, "I need some help." He pushes himself up, but can't find his vertical base. His feet keep slipping. Eventually he gets up into a seated position, but that is as far as he's going to get. "They teach this in MMA? Leave a drunk mech sitting when he's...sitting?" Artifice scowls at Jazz, and then calls out to whomever may be in the vicinty. "Help! I'm down. Please help! I'm down and I can't hit anything." Combat: Artifice takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Combat: Windshear takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Harrow glares after Nightbeat, then cautiously scoots away to assist Artifice. She tries to drag the other F-16 away from Jazz and patch him all with one hand. "Perhaps Cyclonus underestimated the Autobots here, as much as I hate to admit it." Combat: Harrow quickly patches up some of Artifice's minor injuries. Swoop looks confused. He stops for a moment to process Windshear's words and truely understand what he's trying to say but he just doesn't get it. "What neutral mean? It sound stupid." Now that that's out of the way, Swoop snatches a long neck bottle off a nearby table and swings it at Windshear's head. Combat: Swoop strikes Windshear with his Bottle'd! (Punch) attack! Scattershot flies backwards as he is hit by the laser. He gets up slowly, and grabs his face, wiping the energon off of his optics. He raises his arm in the air grabbing onto his pistol as he fires yet again at Cyclonus. Combat: Scattershot misses Cyclonus with his Laser attack! Jazz approaches Harrow and Artifice with his typical smug grin "Do yourselves a favor and drag him outside away from here." He looks around at his fellow Autobots "Cut them some slack if they want to retreat, let them." He stares at Scattershot a bit wondering if he will obey or if Jazz will need to pull him off Cyclonus. Combat: Jazz takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Nightbeat does scope out Cyclonus and relay some tactical data to Scattershot, just in case Scattershot doesn't want to follow Jazz's orders. However, Nightbeat is discreet about it, because, well, Jazz is his boss. To the outward world, he just appears to be leaning heavily against a wall, clutching his shoulder. Combat: Nightbeat analyzes Cyclonus for weaknesses Scattershot can exploit. Windshear gets smashed across the top of his head with the bottle. A HUD warning announces his targeting system has now been damaged, among other things. Bad enough hes lost some of his power from a system the previous sword attack damaged, now this. "Neutral means NO fighting, Dinobot. There is no... point to this." He hates to say that, he loves to fight and really never leaves a fight unfinished but hes got to learn when to walk away. Now is one of those times, "You...win this round, Swoop." he seems to spit the words out like they hurt to say, and they do. The Seeker backs up and does not attack again -- he probably couldnt hit the target even if he tried right now... Cyclonus was expecting Scattershot's move and he was ready. Just as the laser beam was about to strike him, he deflects it with his sword and it ends its course on a nearby wall. Cyclonus just stares at his opponent for a moment before finally charging him, sword high above his head. As he comes into range, the blade describes an elegant arc as it descends towards the technobot. Combat: Windshear takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Combat: Cyclonus strikes Scattershot with his Diamond-Boron Carbide Sword attack! Seeing as Cyclonus isn't barking orders, and Jazz wasn't attacking, Harrow takes the advice and haphazardly drags Artifice for the bar exit. Combat: Harrow takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Artifice isn't in a position to say or do much of anything. "Thanks, you," he smiles, "You're very nice." Wih that, his systems back up and a good portion of the liquid he has imbided comes up. It ends up dribbling down onto his canopy. "Oops. Uh oh." Combat: Artifice takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Jazz calls out to Cyclonus "Hey tall dark and gruesome. Your guys don't look so hot right now and there is a dinobot back there I might not be able or willing to keep off of you." He says point Swoop with his thumb. "Follow your guys and just leave this place." Combat: Jazz takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Swoop looks very very VERY smug right now. Seriously, look up 'smug' in the dictionary and his face will be printed right next to the defintion. "You wimpy plane giving up? Hahaha! That not surprise me Swoop!" The Dinobot ceases his wailing on the plane but he doesn't stop being a big bully. He fills the space between him and Windshear by taking a step foreward. Then in true Dinobot fashion, he gives Windshear a hard -shove- in the chest. "You little wussy! You will never beat me Swoop!" Combat: Harrow begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Jazz, Cyclonus, Nightbeat, and Windshear Combat: Artifice begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Jazz, Harrow, Cyclonus, Nightbeat, and Windshear Nightbeat actually wanders over to the bar to get another drink. Jazz is slick. Jazz had this handled. Nightbeat has faith in his boss! And he's real thirsty after all that fighting. Scattershot screams and falls backwards after the sword hits him on his other shoulder. He stands up one more time, this time clenching his fist in anger, as he sees things have settled down and looks over at Jazz for a moment. he then looks at Cyclonus and points his finger at him "This isn't over" he says "Wait until I see you on a real battlefield". He stops hostilities as it appears everyone else is. (No attack) Cyclonus had enough of this. He considers he made his point so there is no reason to remain here and fight, especially if it means he has to deal with a dinobot right after finishing Scattershot. "Decepticon to Darkmount!" The he leaps into the air, transforming and passing right through the roof. Yes the owner of the place will need to repair it again! Cyclonus leaps into the air and quickly transforms into a cybertronian starfighter. Combat: Starfighter begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Windshear clenches his dental plating at the words and stumbles back from the shove. This is so hard to not attack back but no, hes got to learn temperance. Hes got to learn to stop biting off more than he can chew so to speak and then have repair personal pick up the tab. "Thats the point, Swoop." he rasps as he straightens up, "If I dont learn when to let you win, I will never beat you..." He turns and heads for the door. He will not retreat, he walks slowly and firmly for the door. Jazz walks over to the bar to grab a drink looking as pristine as when he walked in. He nods at Nightbeat and smiles "See? Don't need to be called Grimlock for people to listen. It's all in the tone." He looks at Scattershot "Seems to me things got out of hand over a misunderstanding. When I walked it I could have sworn you sneezed and accidently hit Cyclonus face in the process. An insignificant incident like that does not warrant a report. Does it?" He looks at Nightbeat. Swoop places his hands on his hips and just watches Windshear leave. He has the perfect opportunity to finish the seeker off; it would be easy! He could use his sword and cleave his back open with a single strike but he doesn't. Swoop just stands and watches, a smug smile on his face. "Wussy shark-plane. Me will ALWAYS beat him." Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Jazz takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Harrow goes home. Harrow leaves The Steel Balloon. Scattershot looks over at Jazz "He got a punch in the face because he pushed a table into Nightbeat and attampted to injure him, when I said something he pulled his fist back and clocked me a good one on the side of my head....then I gave him hell" Artifice leaves The Steel Balloon. Windshear goes home. Windshear leaves The Steel Balloon. Nightbeat nods to Jazz and says slowly, "Yeah, boss. I reckon so." Nightbeat doesn't want to write a report! Jazz finishes his drink and heads out to /his/ club where this sort of things do not happen. (And the player goes to bed.) You leave The Steel Balloon. ***** *** * * * * * * *** *** **** * * *** * * * * *** * * *** *** ** * * ** * ** * *** *** *** * * *** *** * * * * *** **** * * *** * * * * *